Jon-Joras had come to Earth simply to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse the king. These hunts were as much pageantry as sport — the dragons, brought to Earth centuries before as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted....
Earth is flat, empty, weary, and bare. Her children, too, had left her, all but a few who lived peacefully off the land. And then came the Kar-Chee, to crack Earth open and suck out what remained of her richness, threatening the twilight of th old...